mscha wrote:Sea level rise, and castle crumbling, since just after the sea wall collapsed, some 16newpix ago.

Time_sea_level_rise_20130417_1100.png

(As always, red removed, green added.)

Why is the castle being under cut by the under current when Megan's Nub wasn't?

Difference in construction. The sandcastle was built to have a nice appearance and was not created to withstand the coming of the tide. The nub/dyke/whatever was built to hold back the tide (for a period of Time).

Asthanius wrote:But think about it. Megan admitted that she doesn't know how the sea works. If she doesn't know how it works but continues to build, she must know something about the sea, possibly how high it can rise.

Because nobody ever builds sandcastles unless they're sure they will survive the tide? Even if the seamen keeps rising at the current rate, that part of the castle will last quite a while yet, so why not rebuild? All it shows is that Megan has no reason to expect an imminent tsunami.

Can we expect a tsunami? That'd be kind of awesome.

Well, BlitzGirl is experiencing a bit of a title wave.

P.S. I am Randall, but not that Randall.We can rebuild it. We have the technology. We can make it better than it was. Better … stronger … well, maybe not faster.Well, BlitzGirl is experiencing a bit of a title wave.

Asthanius wrote:But think about it. Megan admitted that she doesn't know how the sea works. If she doesn't know how it works but continues to build, she must know something about the sea, possibly how high it can rise.

Because nobody ever builds sandcastles unless they're sure they will survive the tide? Even if the seamen keeps rising at the current rate, that part of the castle will last quite a while yet, so why not rebuild? All it shows is that Megan has no reason to expect an imminent tsunami.

Jafloi wrote:If you had to pick just one timeframe to symbolise the whole of the One True Comic, witch would it be? I need just that for a outside-originated project, but can not decide witch to use... preferably one before NP 124, for the simplicity. Can you help?

I think it should be the first Frame...not because of the frame itself, but because of the promise it holds. With our current knowledge, this first frame is very powerful...it does not contain anything which is passed, it contains the future, it contains all the possibilites where it might lead, all the different futures and options - Together with the phrase, this oh-so simple sentence "wait for it" it is a promise that there will be something, we do not know what yet, it could be anything - this is the essence of the One True Comic.

Seems like it's going to be the first frame- unless there comes more votes the next few millipix.'

I vote for frame 167. The two castles are there, in their familiar form. C&M are both in the frame. There's building action (C), there's waiting action (M), everything we learned to love and expect in the one true comic.167th

Exodies wrote:Why is the castle being under cut by the under current when Megan's Nub wasn't?

And, why didn't Megan just add a bit to the nub to keep it from happening?

I thought I remembered that some bonding agents were allowed in sand sculpture competitions. But, I could not find a reference to that on the web. I did find some cool sandcastles that don't exist anywhere in the Universe... http://www.popularmechanics.com/technol ... zo/4279810

Jafloi wrote:If you had to pick just one timeframe to symbolise the whole of the One True Comic, witch would it be? I need just that for a outside-originated project, but can not decide witch to use... preferably one before NP 124, for the simplicity. Can you help?

I think it should be the first Frame...not because of the frame itself, but because of the promise it holds. With our current knowledge, this first frame is very powerful...it does not contain anything which is passed, it contains the future, it contains all the possibilites where it might lead, all the different futures and options - Together with the phrase, this oh-so simple sentence "wait for it" it is a promise that there will be something, we do not know what yet, it could be anything - this is the essence of the One True Comic.

Seems like it's going to be the first frame- unless there comes more votes the next few millipix.'

I vote for frame 167. The two castles are there, in their familiar form. C&M are both in the frame. There's building action (C), there's waiting action (M), everything we learned to love and expect in the one true comic.167th

Yay! Caught up again!Also: Frame one. It's the only one that makes sense for a connoisseur. So far, at least.

Patriarch of the Western Paradox Church (ret'd)-All the stars are dust on my screen -- Marsh'nThe best computer game is a compiler. -- ExodiesI thought I was wrong, but it turned out I was mistaken. -- ucimYou have to grow older. You need not grow up. -- bmonk

*Because I am not Lord Randall the Almighty, the "first" frame referred to is the first at http://xkcd.aubronwood.com/time[/quote]**Can someone provide me a link?***One nanopix till the decision is made, but please continue to vote, could be fun seeing what turns out to be the most popular timeframe.****[Edit:]****Done, landed on "First" frame[Edit2:]*****Added vote![Edit3:]******Added one more vote![Edit4:] Adding an important thought:

Purplepants77 wrote:In light of all this critiquing of which Frame is most representative of the OTC, I would just like to reiterate my only previous post: This needle-pulled-thingy is becoming increasingly similar to the dialogue in Other Comic #915.

On a related note:

Flado wrote:Yay! Caught up again!Also: Frame one. It's the only one that makes sense for a connoisseur. So far, at least.

And personally, I would like remain among those of the opinion that no individual Frame can come close to capturing the essence of the OTC.but if I had to pick, I'd say the first* one

mscha wrote:Sea level rise, and castle crumbling, since just after the sea wall collapsed, some 16newpix ago.

Time_sea_level_rise_20130417_1100.png

(As always, red removed, green added.)

Why is the castle being under cut by the under current when Megan's Nub wasn't?

Difference in construction. The sandcastle was built to have a nice appearance and was not created to withstand the coming of the tide. The nub/dyke/whatever was built to hold back the tide (for a period of Time).

Or in other words, because Lord Randall dictated it to work that way.

Also, the castle was built by Cueball, and the dike (NOT dyke! Different thing entirely!) by Megan. Just sayin'.

Cueball just finished his amazing recursive castle in the middle, and he is proudly showing it to Megan with his arms wide open. I love the recusrive castle, I love frames where both Megan and Cueball are visible, I love silent interactions between them, and I love how we can deduce entire emotions just by a variation of the position of the stick figures.

mscha wrote:Sea level rise, and castle crumbling, since just after the sea wall collapsed, some 16newpix ago.

Time_sea_level_rise_20130417_1100.png

(As always, red removed, green added.)

Why is the castle being under cut by the under current when Megan's Nub wasn't?

Difference in construction. The sandcastle was built to have a nice appearance and was not created to withstand the coming of the tide. The nub/dyke/whatever was built to hold back the tide (for a period of Time).

Or in other words, because Lord Randall dictated it to work that way.

Also, the castle was built by Cueball, and the dike (NOT dyke! Different thing entirely!) by Megan. Just sayin'.

Yes, please. If you're trying to be funny, than fine. Crude humor, but fine. If you don't know how to spell dike, then this lesson might save you some embarrassment in some future time.

[quote="Sciscitor"]Just an attempt to resolve the dimensionality puzzle.-snip-[/quote}

Some thoughts on the universe choices2D Wouldn't gravity fall off by distance rather than distance squared? The area near the fluid and dike looked 2d.

Unrelated to dimensionality: The zoom into the trebuchet shows that the pixel is not the elementary particle in the universe. (Or, the zoom in would be pixelated.)

3D There was much discussion about the dike holding back the water, and it's need to be very long. But, when I have built such things to save my own constructions I have built them around the castle. This circular wall would be best drawn the way it was in the OTC.

2.5D (Antfarm-Universe) Amusing physics choice, (And my understanding is that 17 or so of the dimensions required for string theory are like this.) But, not gratifying to me. Also, how could we see the image, the light couldn't get to where we are standing. (Or, they have a universe where entropy is an even bigger bitch than we expect.)

Crossection of a 3D world This is mostly the one I like. But not in the sense of cutting through the world with a plane, and only seeing what is in that plane. The world is clearly 3d. Many arguments have been made for this, and I agree with them. We are clearly not seeing the entirety of the world. The shoreline can't simply be infinitely long and straight and perfectly lined up behind what we see. etc. Perhaps the universe is 2d at the right, turning 3d left of the dike. (That's why megan didn't just make the dike bigger, she ran out of 2d building material.) I think the universe is 3d, but some things are hidden in ways we do not yet comprehend.

Hermeneutic explanation I agree, what fun is this. I like to think Randall would have rules. Even if he would not share with us.

*Because I am not Lord Randall the Almighty, the "first" frame referred to is the first at http://xkcd.aubronwood.com/time**Can someone provide me a link?***One nanopix till the decision is made, but please continue to vote, could be fun seeing what turns out to be the most popular timeframe.****[Edit:]****Done, landed on "First" frame[Edit2:]Added vote!

I vote 404. It has the most emotion of them all.

I would have voted for it earlier, but the preference was made for something in the first 167 or so.

mscha wrote:Sea level rise, and castle crumbling, since just after the sea wall collapsed, some 16newpix ago.

Time_sea_level_rise_20130417_1100.png

(As always, red removed, green added.)

Why is the castle being under cut by the under current when Megan's Nub wasn't?

Have you ever made a sandcastle near the water? Loosely mounded sand tends to remain a loose mound, while carefully packed and vertically-oriented sand is quick to crumble, especially when dry.

The way Megan and Cueball (mostly Megan, as of late) are horsing* around tends to reinforce the idea that they're young, maybe kids. Megan's idea to haul herself up on the bucket when there's a ladder literally right in front of her is a bit whimsical, anyway.

In light of all this critiquing of which Frame is most representative of the OTC, I would just like to reiterate my only previous post: This needle-pulled-thingy is becoming increasingly similar to the dialogue in Other Comic #915.

On a related note:

Flado wrote:Yay! Caught up again!Also: Frame one. It's the only one that makes sense for a connoisseur. So far, at least.

And personally, I would like remain among those of the opinion that no individual Frame can come close to capturing the essence of the OTC.but if I had to pick, I'd say the first* one

Is it me, or is the gap between the central sandpile on the platform and the tower on the right of the platform crenelated?Specifically, the smaller platform atop the larger one.EDIT: 14000th post!

HAL9000 wrote:I find it simultaneously fascinating and disturbing that the most profound things I've read in the past months I have encountered in or been led to by an internet forum thread about a webcomic.

HAL9000 wrote:Is it me, or is the gap between the central sandpile on the platform and the tower on the right of the platform crenelated?Specifically, the smaller platform atop the larger one.EDIT: 14000th post!

Latent22 wrote:Ok everyone there is a cool new feature in The Book of Time. Go to any page (except the last few as I haven't updated them yet) and there is a link at the bottom that takes you to that newpix's point in the Forum thread. So if you know the newpix number you want to investigate you can go to that page in the book of time and then use the link to get there quickly without having to search through the forum. Also this is useful if you want to edit a Book of Time page and want to see what was talked about at that Time to know what to add.

OH MY GOD YOU ARE THE BESTEdit: the link to page one of the forum (from the book of time) is not there, instead, I see a wall of 'expression error: unexpected = operator.' The others all seem to work.

Yeah I had to Coma after I made that change and realized too late that I had made a mistake effecting some of the first pages entered. I've now fixed up those bad pages but there are a few more I have to check. And have to fix the bug in my wiki template code. Its currently 75kB of code that I need to optimize because wikia does not like big scripts like that.

SPACKlick wrote:Could anyone gen together something so that you could time the frame number or time&date of two frames and automatically produce these red green images? I'm not computer savvy so no idea if it would work.

mscha has been making a lot of the comparison images, they may be able to help you.

FWIW, here's the Perl script I'm using. You'll need to install some non-standard Perl modules from CPAN, and have the images in the current directory, preferably with increasing file names (I use xkcd_time_20130417_1500.png for the latest image, from 15:00 UTC today).Usage is then: xkcd_comp first.png second.pngor just: xkcd_comp image.pngif you want to compare an image with its predecessor.

You can use the site http://geekwagon.net/projects/xkcd1190 to do this for two adjacent frames already. Just tick the box below the frame. You then need to go back frames for it to work and it is a bit strange at times but it does let you see changes between frames easily.